One if by land

Yesterday evening, after Wes had finished his day at the conference and I had finished my proposal and sent it off to my advisor for his review, we put on our tennis shoes and took a long walk through the city.  We had already taken in the harbor views on our walk to dinner Wednesday and out the windows at the hotel, so we went more through the center of things, in the Gaslamp Quarter where we're staying and up north to Balboa Park.  We saw a lot of modern condos and lots of older business buildings.  We saw lots of homeless people, something I encounter with much more rarity in Nashville than I did in Chicago.  We saw art galleries and a medicinal marijuana shop and fast food places and fancy restaurants.  We went by an art gallery with some cool artwork.  Wes liked the Lincoln painting, and there was a great Einstein version next to it.  We walked past San Diego High School, the City College, and homeless veterans camped out on a bridge, waiting for the upcoming Operation Stand Down event that was scheduled to start today.  And then finally, about 2.5 miles later, we got to Balboa Park.  

Balboa Park is the nation's largest urban cultural park at 1,200 acres.  It has 15 museums, the San Diego Zoo, playgrounds, an activity center with athletic courts, a place where senior citizens play bridge six nights a week (really -- there's a sign up, and we saw three tables of folks in there playing!), botanical gardens, a huge and open dog park, and running trails.  It's pretty amazing to see.  And it's really well used.  We saw a lot of other tourists, of course -- I think that participants in one of the big conferences at the Convention Center were able to access certain things for free last night as part of the registration -- but there were clearly people of all ages -- little kids with parents, groups of teenagers, young couples and old couples and couples with dogs -- throughout the park.  It was a beautiful night (although I'm starting to think there aren't that many bad weather evenings here), and it was so nice to see a place like that really getting used.

From the park we walked into Banker's Hill, an area just to the east of the park.  It was (and appears still to be) an affluent and more residential part of the city, but also thriving with restaurants and nicer bars and clubs.  Wes and I went there to have dinner at The Tractor Room.  And while the food was fair to good, the ambience was unbeatable.  I don't know who could possibly have thought to themselves, "Let's do an upscale farm decor.  You know, tractor chic," but they actually pulled it off.  There's an old blue tractor out front, leather and animal hair on the banquets and backs of the bar stools.  There's a mounted deer and some other animals, and to our sheer and utter delight, a rabbit -- with antlers on its head.  I think we probably annoyed everyone in the restaurant trying to get a decent picture in the dark dining room of this thing, but there was no way we were leaving without it.  Wes and I each did a beer flight, with essentially a shot of four different kinds of draught beers.  We got black skillet cornbread and a wedge caesar salad for appetizers, then shared the Prime Beef Burger with a side of Criss-Cross Fries and the Honey Mustard Grilled Pork Tenderloin with a side of Acorn Squash with Bacon Maple Farmer's Butter (um, yum).  The burger was good, especially done medium rare, and the pork tenderloin was so-so, maybe a little dry.  But seriously, a bunny with antlers -- you can't beat that.  We did take a cab home rather than walk the four miles back home through the dark.

While Wes was at the conference today, I did a lot of wandering and window shopping and bought a few things for me and Emme.  I went to Seaport Village just here by the hotel to go to Upstart Crow, a bookstore and coffee shop.  It carries a random assortment of books, really funny odds and ends and gifts, and has a basic coffee menu.  I enjoyed looking around and the quirky nature of the place.  It's the kind of bookstore I'd frequent if I lived near one, just to walk through now and then.  I didn't realize there was so much shopping out there, but ended up spending at least an hour looking through toys store, gift shops, and even a place that just sells outdoor swings and hammocks.  I got to talk to my mom to hear how the kids were doing and even to Oliver (and later chatted with everyone on the computer).  I then wandered for several miles around the city to look in a few vintage and high-end consignment women's clothing shops (turns out expensive clothes are still too expensive for me, even when marked down).  I went to the mall in Horton Plaza -- interesting in the way it's open to the center, which is open air, but totally baffling to navigate --, where I found Emme's t-shirt at Nordstrom's, some extra socks at Lady Foot Locker, and got some fruit and cheese and crackers at Ralph's, the local grocery store, across the street.  I'm not sure how far I walked today, but it was nice to just go, take a different street, and pop into places that looked fun.

I still haven't done the 6.5 mile run that the hotel recommends from here along the harbor.  I do intend to attempt it at least once before we leave, just because I think it would be so pretty along the way.  But at least I'm getting plenty of walking in during the day.  Hopefully that, and the almost complete lack of meals the rest of the day, will make up for what I've been eating at night.  For now, I leave you with a rare sight.